Tools and Tactics

A letter in response to Jill Lepore’s article (September 24, 2012)

Although Lepore writes that Campaigns, Inc., was “the first political-consulting firm in the history of the world,” political consulting has been with us for as long as there has been democracy. The Sophists, famously depicted and despised by Plato, taught the art of politics. In a political system dominated by oratory, Gorgias, from Sicily, devised a style of rhetoric that made for spellbinding speeches. Political leaders, including Pericles, are said to have consulted with Protagoras of Abdera—the most famous of the Sophists—who argued that there were two sides to every question, and advertised his ability to make the weaker argument appear stronger.

George Klosko

Charlottesville, Va.

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